GPS For A Directionally Challenged Woman Driver

I navigate by landmark, so directions can be very challenging.
Landmarks work well when you are already familiar with a place. The
bank is right next to the big old city hall that is painted yellow and
I can see its big dome from afar. The entrance is right down the road
that passes the front of city hall, flanked by two tall,
distinctive-looking redwood trees. As I cruise around neighborhoods I
know, familiar buildings, houses, and intersection corners pop up
regularly. I know what to expect next. And I feel comfortable knowing
exactly how to get to where I want to go.

Alas,
this approach is unusable when you don’t know or can’t see the landmark
– for example, in navigating a new town, or finding a place in the
dark. Another situation that I found particularly tough is when
well-laid driving directions have to be tossed out the window because
of wrong turns that land me in completely unfamiliar neighborhood. I
really hate these situations, because they make me a very nervous
driver. Trying to cut across several lanes on short order is an
exercise that incurs a risk level that I’d rather not engage too much
in. Trying to find your way at night in unlit neighborhoods where you
can’t read signs of roads you already don’t know the name of is a
little annoying not to mention dangerous if you are in a
not-so-desirable neighborhood.

I had been eyeing GPS
systems for a long time. I always knew it would help me a lot by
providing a sense of security when I get lost. No more driving round
and round till I find something familiar enough to be what I recently
passed to find my way back to the well-laid written directions.
However, I have always thought the price too high and the
user-interface too difficult to use. Recently my girlfriend, who
visited from abroad and never drove in the U.S. rented a car from Avis
equipped with the “NeverLost” GPS system. It did fine listing the
directions and even had a 3D-map. It definitely helped her navigate
successfully in a totally unfamiliar city, not to mention road system.
However, I found it did not update quickly enough when she took a wrong
turn and we had to slow down to allow the device time to recalculate a
new route. Not a great way to drive when there is a line of traffic
right behind you! I also found that the interface took a while to
figure out and the simple map look quite a bit different from a real
road. Being directionally challenged, my criteria for investing in a
GPS system quickly became:

(a) it has to make driving easier,
not harder. Having to wait for the system to respond was unacceptable
because it would stress me out even more when I get lost.
(b) it has
to have maps that look like the real world I am driving in. When I
navigate an unfamiliar terrain, I need to focus on the road, not the
GPS.
(c) its user-interface must be easy to figure out and pleasant
to look at. Something as user-friendly and readable as the iPhone
would be good.

So I passed. No GPS for me. I continued to
assiduously type in my start/end points into Google Maps, and write
down the directions at the back of envelopes from my recycle bin. Of
course sometimes I forget to bring the paper, just as I frequently
forget my shopping list when going shopping. Duh! But on the
occasions it made it to my dashboard, I would try to memorize it, but
more often than not, I would hold up the piece of paper – while driving
– trying to read what’s next. (Nervous laugh.) That makes me crazy –
navigating with one plus hand(s), and one plus eye(s) – I don’t
recommend this. But I survived on it for a year, sometimes
supplemented with a phone call to friends to look up Google Maps on
their internet at home. (Sheepish grin) So now you see the “direction
demons” I fight when driving. I wish I can tell north, south, east,
west in seconds not minutes, but it is one of those limitations I have
come to accept and live with. Even in Manhattan where the streets are
laid out in grids, and increases either numerically or alphabetically,
I used to get out of the subway station and make a complete 360 around
the block to find the right direction to go to. Okay, maybe I need to
wear those glasses my optometrist recommend, but directions still make
me nervous!

When the iPhone came out, my driving life took a
turn for the better. Google Maps actually lived on it. Hah – now I
have a portable mapping system – not a GPS, mind you, but simply free
maps that are downloaded instantaneously over the cellular network
right into my hands. Now I can stop the car somewhere whenever I am
lost, then pan around the map and find where I have ended up in. Then
I can manually figure out how to drive to get to the end point. It was
a lot safer, but it was still time-consuming and required way too much
ad-hoc planning while driving. I frequently wish my iPhone would talk
to me to read out those pesky turn-by-turn directions. Recently, Google Maps on iPhone was
upgraded to be able to triangulate your location. It wasn’t completely
accurate – especially in dense cities where many tall buildings would
reflect the signals – but it was a step-up.

But I was getting
tired of all these charades. It took a lot of coordination. It made
driving less pleasurable. It wasn’t completely safe. It added some
amount of stress too. Even my friends were getting sick of me
calling. I was ready for a Nigel to talk to me in the car. (Nigel was
the British sounding name my directionally challenged male friend gave
to his British-accented GPS unit. He was stolen and we are still very
sad for losing a named friend.)

So it was with tremendous relief
and jubilation that I received a GPS unit for my birthday. My friend
worked at one of those high-tech firms where people buy and toss
electronic toys in quick succession, and he got a brand-new Garmin Nuvi 660
at half-price. I was elated. It was the line I had been eyeing for a
while, because of its superior graphics and easy-to-use interface.
When I first tested it, I felt that it would definitely reduce my
stress level with directions. I had eyed a lower model, because I
didn’t really need the extra fancy add-ons such as the MP3 player,
audio book player (through Audible Books), Bluetooth wireless for
hands-free calling (it doesn’t support my iPhone), language translator,
and FM-transmitter. But I loved the slimness of it, and most of all, I
love the bright screen that displayed bright, colorful 3D maps with
geographical feature.

Having used it for a couple days now, I
have found that driving is a whole new experience. For one, the system
knows when the car is moving, and will not allow you to punch in
directions unless you override the “Safe Mode”. Secondly, I just drive
on roads that I know are faster even if the GPS thinks otherwise and it
adjusts within a split second to accommodate my decision. Thirdly, IT
TALKS TO ME. Yes, it talks to me and that’s my favorite feature.
Sometimes Vincent V. interrupts my conversation with fellow passengers
and I suppose it could get annoying in the future, but I will just turn
him off. Fourthly, I can now “see” that I am passing the San Andreas
Lake when driving on 280, even though I can’t really see it. The 3D
map shows parks and other geographical feature and it makes me more
aware of the unseen landmark all around me. (It wasn’t a great feeling
though to learn that the San Andreas fault lie next to my favorite
highway which runs not too far from my home….) In addition, driving
more smoothly also saves gas, and being an environmentalist, it makes
me feel better.

So, at this point, I think my personal
struggle with driving direction is probably over. Heck, I can take
this gadget with me on vacation and hiking. I may have to buy
additional maps internationally and for topographical information, but
that’s easy. I am looking forward to exploring the world with a
little less trepidation, and a lot more random “wrong turns”. Life is
good with Vincent V. my little GPS navigator. I just hope he doesn’t
get stolen – the special NPR segment on the string of GPS thefts
around the country is making me nervous. I guess I will just have to
unplug him every time I step out the car and put him in my purse.

Marn-Yee Lee
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com

Marn-Yee Lee is pursuing an MBA in Sustainability at the Presidio
School of Management in San Francisco. After spending a decade in I.T.
and on Wall Street, she is now pursuing her passion for the
environment. She sees business as a partner for creating innovative
solutions to pressing environmental issues. In her spare time, she
writes a blog to inspire others to consider the impact of their daily
lives on the environment at busythinking.blogspot.com.